Multimodal freight transportation: sustainability challenges

Due to globalization in trade, the development of multimodal cargo shipments and the related transport needs have created a range of challenges. Interestingly, sustainability of multimodal freight transportation is still subject to minor consideration, on the grounds that economic interests are frequently positioned much higher than social or environmental objectives. This proposed research plan is needed to assess whether and to what extent the multimodal freight system is achieving the results in the sustainability dimensions: economic, social and environmental. Thus, it will carry out a critical appraisal of the multimodal freight transportation sector to provide an up-to-date knowledge on the sustainability challenges and the potential solutions through doctoral research. This paper structured to present a review of existing literature on freight transportation and multimodal freight transport highlighting the sustainability concerns with multimodal freight transport systems. It also highlights the gaps in knowledge with a justification on the need to address these gaps for the system to function optimally. It also covers the methodology that would be applied and the sources of data that would be reviewed to ensure the aim and objectives are clearly addressed. The paper concludes by discussing the significance of the expected findings in the light of sustainability in multimodal freight transport to the academia, policy makers and the freight transportation industry

Capital and development in social and cultural contexts: empirical investigation on transport infrastructure development and female labour force in Turkey

Non-economic factors like culture and politics, as well as the socio-economic background, matter significantly in directing economic development endeavours towards social wellbeing. Therefore, the current narrow definition of economic development must be extended to include overall wellbeing. As one of the primary forms of physical capital constituting a regional economy, transport investments have played a significant role in development plans. Given that accessibility to social infrastructure is a basic need, certain levels of infrastructure are essential. How these investments have an impact on different groups of individuals has kept many scholars busy for a long time. However, the economic spillover effects of these investments into female labour markets have remained largely unexplored. Situating the implications of development initiatives, including transport investments, for female labour markets in social and cultural contexts requires an integrated view of the regional economy. Although economic geography and existing development theories provide extensive conceptual models to elucidate the links between transport, labour markets and culture, the methodological implications are obscure; hence, the empirical evidence remains weak.This thesis explores the economic and non-economic dynamics of regional economies to clarify the links between transport infrastructure, labour markets, and social and cultural conditions. In particular, the association between female labour forces and development efforts, in the form of transport infrastructure development, is conceptually and empirically examined. This thesis conducts a case study on Turkey. With the extensive infrastructure investment that has been made since 2002 and the extremely low rates of female labour force participation (around 25%), compared to EU-15 and OECD averages of around 65%, Turkey serves as an illuminating case.Theoretically, the study shows that the focus of transport economics on the economic growth effect of investments is not consistent with current efforts to extend economic development objectives: transport research requires a broader view to assess its development implications. The study demonstrates how the interactions between the economic, physical, political, cultural and socio-economic attributes of regions significantly affect how individuals benefit from the investments. The overarching policy implications of the study are useful for regional development policy with a gender focus: complementary policy interventions in human capital development and the consideration of social and cultural attitudes should strengthen the positive impacts of physical investments on female labour markets

Finance and investment in transport

This book chapter is from Moving towards low carbon mobility: The transport sector has been singularly unsuccessful in becoming low carbon and less resource intensive. This book takes an innovative and holistic social, cultural and behavioural perspective, as well as covering the more conventional economic and technological dimensions, to provide a more complete understanding of the mobility and transport system and its progress towards high carbon mobility

Living with urban floods in metro Manila: a gender approach to mobilities, work and climatic events

With this paper, I demonstrate the importance of a gendered approach to work-related mobilities, in understanding the linkages between mobilities and urban flooding. Drawing on a qualitative study conducted in the Malate district in Metro Manila, I focus on work-related mobilities of low-income communities, particularly on the impact of floods on urban mobilities. Rather than considering floods as disasters, I conceptualise floods as part of everyday urban life, and demonstrate how climatic conditions traverse the dynamics of home-work linkages, localities and employment in the Urban South. I argue that bridging mobility and climatic conditions from a gender perspective brings forth how the conflicting narratives of confinement and independence are implicated in the everyday lives of the women living in low-income settlements. This eventually challenges current policy representations on the societal impacts of adverse weather and economic conditions on vulnerable communities

Urban conceptions of economic inequalities

Wide economic disparities are the characterizing features of contemporary urban economies. However, very little is known about how economic inequality is perceived and experienced in urban contexts. Reflecting on the current empirical thinking about perceptions of inequality and guided by Antonio Gramsci's framing of ‘conceptions of the world’, the broad meanings of attitudes and perceptions are transferred to an urban level with a view to develop a framework of ‘urban conceptions of economic inequalities’, which will enable a broader understanding of how economic inequality and its ramifications are conceptualized for urban research and practice

Development and gendered mobilities: narratives from the women of Mardin, Turkey

This paper addresses gendered mobilities in Mardin in the context of the implications of transport investments for the female labour market. I seek to illustrate that the relationship between infrastructure provision and gendered mobilities is entangled in a wider context which encompasses politics and cultural geographies. Drawing on theories of mobilities, I argue that a lack of understanding of the complementary and contradictory impacts of local context and physical infrastructure investments may undermine social and cultural conditions within communities, resulting in misguided development policies

Infrastructure development and employment: the case of Turkey

This study illustrates the interaction effects between human capital and transport infrastructure by taking into account the gender differences and the roles of socio-cultural factors on employment in Turkey. It is shown that a considerable part of the variation in paid employment is at a regional scale and that significant associations exist between the interaction effects of education and transport infrastructure and paid employment. Although the role of regional context is roughly comparable for men and women, there are gender differences in the associations between socio-cultural and physical characteristics and employment